The Blue Haven
by IheartTwilight
Summary: [Sequel to The Apple Tree] After 17 years, Bella Swan finally feels safe. But the people around her aren't as good as they seem, and suddenly her innocence becomes her weakness. Soon, she's forced to realize one thing: The innocent never last. [done]
1. Car Rides

**Yay! The sequel to The Apple Tree is up way before planned! Sorry if this chapter seems rushed by the way, I was anxious to add in the Cullens and make it juicy! R&R! **

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Twilight, but I do own all of the new characters you meet in the story!

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Chapter One

_Car Rides_

I laid my head back onto the cool leather seat of the car. We were driving in a light teal 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible. We had the top down and the oldies station on and blaring. Our hair was blowing free in the wind as we drove down the empty highway that cut through vast, empty fields full of wild flowers and telephone polls.

Audrey and I were currently singing to the song "I Love Rock and Roll", and we were singing it well.

It had been seventeen years since I changed, and I had not seen my family, the Cullens, or Damien once. It was just Audrey and I. We had become best friends, basically sisters, and we told each other everything. I still had trouble dealing with the fact that the Cullens had abandoned me and that Edward hadn't wanted me anymore, but seventeen years of closure was plenty of time to move on. Partially.

I knew everything there was to know about Audrey, just like she knew everything about me.

We never used credit cards or checks, only cash. Our cash stream never faltered. In fact, just last night Audrey and I had won over five thousand bucks in cash by using our 'gifts' in a bar off of the highway.

Audrey's gift was very useful, but also grounded. She could manipulate people's eyesight; make them see things that weren't really there. Though in order for it to work, the person had to have seen the object recently. For instance, the reason Audrey had beaten Damien so easily was because she was making him see her body in a different place then where it really was.

Her power also is what makes us win cash. Last night we had bet money on a pool game between her and some thugs. She would make them see the pool ball someplace where it wasn't, and they would always miss. When they accused us of cheating, we just dazzled them and left with the cash.

My power was very flat out and straightforward. I was immune to other vampire's powers. That meant Audrey couldn't manipulate my eyesight, Alice couldn't see me in any visions, Jasper wouldn't be able to change my feelings, nor could Edward read my mind.

I could also weaken a vampire's super strength to that of a human, and I could also make them run as slow as one. That annoyed Audrey whenever we raced.

We were both vegetarians, of course, and neither of us hunted humans.

We were on our way to New York now. New York was a perfect place for us drifters. Plus, that's where our boyfriends lived.

Yes, I said boyfriends.

Around two years ago Audrey and I met some other really nice veggie vampires in Tennessee. Audrey's boyfriend's name was Wes, and my boyfriend's name was Gavin. Wes was strong and goofy, and Gavin was handsome and alluring. His skin tone was strange, though. Sort of Native American toned mixed with the vampire white. They both had bought a studio apartment in New York for all of us to settle in, and that's where we were headed for now.

Plus, New York had plenty of hole-in-the-wall bars for Audrey and I to make cash in.

We were only an hour or two away now. We were driving threw upstate New York, for we had been living in Canada.

When we got into New York we put the top up on the car and found a parking spot with relative ease. We grabbed the small amount of luggage we had and made our way up the stairs and into our apartment.

Before I had even set my stuff down, Gavin had his arms wrapped around me in a tight embrace. We kissed for a while before he set me down. Audrey and Wes were in the hall kissing, and one of them was starting to moan.

"At least get in your rooms first!" Gavin teased.

They broke apart and Audrey gave Gavin a hug. I hugged Wes.

The inside of the apartment was really nice. There was a wide-open living room and kitchen with no walls blocking them, though there was a counter that separated the kitchen from the living room. The whole South wall was a big window, though thank God for us there were big, thick red curtains.

There were two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The men were going to share a room and so were the females, upon Gavin and mine's request. It was impossible to get peace and quiet when Wes and Audrey were in a bedroom together.

In a couple of hours we had the place completely furnished. The living room had nice cherry wood floors. We put up a nice, big television on a stand in front of the window, with a bunch of assorted colored couches grouped around it. There were various colored coffee tables in the room, too, with assorted flowers and lamps on top of them.

We decorated the walls with paintings of all sizes and colors, along with different sized mirrors. We had a lot of flowers and plants around, too.

The kitchen floor and cabinets matched the living room floor, though each cabinet door front was glass. Instead of tiles between the counters and cabinets, there was red brick. The counter tops were made of black granite. There was a nice big silver stove which we would never use, along with an island counter in the middle, equipped with bar stools and a mini fridge.

Audrey and my room had a lighter oak colored wood floor, and the part of the wall that wasn't window was a nice vibrant pinkish red color. We had assorted color couches and chairs here, along with various pictures and mirrors. We also had our own television. And we had a little table and mirror that held all of our make up and hair products that wouldn't fit in our bathroom.

The boy's room was basically the same as ours, except with deep blue walls and different paintings and furniture.

All the curtains for the big wall sized windows were the same. They were all heavy and a deep red color, the kind you expect to see in a theatre. We loved them nonetheless.

After talking and kissing Gavin, I told everyone I was going to go for a walk and explore New York City. They offered to come, but I said I just wanted to think. Audrey and Wes agreed and hastily ran into his room, while Gavin turned the TV up loud to drown out their noise.

I grabbed my black cloak, even though I didn't need it, just to look normal. It was chilly out, not that it affected vampires in anyway. It was also cloudy, so I was free to go outside without having to worry about sparkling.

I walked around the city thinking hard, not really caring where I was going. I hardly noticed all the lustful stares I was getting from men, and the jealous ones I was getting from girls.

I still loved Edward. I had realized that more then ever when I saw Gavin. Gavin and I had never done anything by my wishes. I couldn't be sure why, though I secretly knew it had to do with Edward. Audrey told me on a daily basis to get over him, but I couldn't.

Sometimes I wondered if he was even still alive, or if he had done something to take his undead life when I went with Audrey. Even the thought of that filled me with a blistering hurt, so I just pushed that to the back of my brain.

I saw there was some kind of hold up on the street before me, so I turned down an alley. I never would've walked down and alley in my human days, for fear of muggers. But now I didn't really care.

Just as I thought that, a short man with spiked black hair and weird orange eyes pounced on me. He knocked me into the building behind me, and I fell to the ground with him perched on top of me.

"Do you know who I am?" he whispered into my ear.

"No," I said.

"Well I know who you are," he whispered.

"And who exactly am I?" I asked.

"You're the one who got away," he whispered. "But not this time. This time my very own teeth will destroy you. They are strong, and fierce, and sharp-"

I cut off his rant.

"It's really weird to gloat about teeth you know," I said. Then I used my power, put my hand in his mouth and pulled out his two incisors. "Especially when they aren't that strong."

I threw him off of me and into the building on the opposite side. He ran towards me, preparing to punch me in rage. I used my power when he punched my face. I heard his knuckles crack and break.

He screamed out in agony and fell to his knees. I grabbed him by his head and slammed him through the boarded up glass of a warehouse wall in the alley.

"Impressive," said a female voice casually from behind me

I turned around sharply and let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Another one! Can't anyone think in this city without being disturbed!" I huffed.

"Oh, I'm not hear to fight you," she laughed. "I was here to track him. He's another one of Damien's army of pathetic losers bent on destroying vampires."

My eyes widened in shock at her words. He had an army!

"So is it true you are the one who Damien didn't kill? He became a shamed recluse for years. Apparently he meant to dry a girl out of her blood, but ended up changing her," she let out a giggle. She sounded as though she had no respect for Damien at all.

"Yeah, I'm her, I guess. So are you a part of some sort of resistance?" I asked hesitantly.

"Exactly. Follow me; I'll take you to where we hang out. By the way, my name is Diem," she said with a smile.

I then noticed how pretty she was. She was sort of short with long, extremely light blonde hair. She had nice, full lips that were light, shiny, and pink.

"Okay," I said. "My name is Bella."

We took off to a vampire speed run, going too fast for anyone to notice us. We still went through a string of non-crowded back alleys, any way though.

She stopped a couple of minutes later in a dead end. It was a small alley far from the main streets with tall buildings on either side. It was rather dark except for a dinky lamp near a door. It was the only door in the whole alley, Bella noted. There were no windows either.

The alley was very nondescript; each surrounding wall was brick. The door was brown and hardly noticeable. The light was a sort of lantern that hung from the wall. There was a small green awning over the door.

Audrey whispered something fast and low through the door, even too fast and low for my hearing. The door opened. There was a large balding, fierce looking man holding the door open for us.

We went in and down a long, straight staircase. It was dark and there were no handrails. If I had been human I surely would've fallen. When we finally got down we were in a small room with a large pool table in the center.

There were three doorways, one on each side of the room. A bunch of vampires were leaning around watching the game take place. There were around seven or eight in this one room.

I heard collective gasps, but two sounded louder then the rest. I looked up to see that everyone had stopped talking to gape at me.

Diem broke the weird silence.

"This is Bella. She's the one who he changed, and she wants to be on our side," She said with a big smile.

I was still scanning the room for wherever the loud gasps had come from. That's when I saw them, standing against a doorway looking utterly shocked.

It was Emmett and Jasper, and they looked like they had seen a ghost.

I let out a small shriek.

"Umm nice meeting you all. Thanks Diem, gotta' go. Bye!" I said quickly under my breath before turning around and running full speed up the stairs.

I could feel Emmett and Jasper right behind me, so I sped up.

I was running hard but they seemed determined not to let me go. I felt Emmett's arm grab mine and he flipped me to face him.

"What!" I snapped.

They both seemed caught completely off guard at my anger. They now wanted to talk to me! After leaving me seventeen years ago!

"Bella," Jasper whispered, shocked.

"Listen, don't give me explanations. I don't need to know why you left me to go through hell and back by my own. Just let me leave, and make this easier on all of us by not telling Edward," I hissed.

"Bella, what are you talking about?" Emmett asked. He was starting to get very mad, but I wasn't paying attention.

Edward had just walked around the corner.

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**By the way, if you think I'm like a car know it all from my nifty little description, I'm not. I just like googled "classic cars" lol. PM your email adress if you wanna' see a picture of their exact car! Review!**


	2. Of Ashes

**Sorry that it took so long to update! I had to write this chapter twice because I changed the plot line yesterday. Oh, and a very keen reader (londonROX) pointed out a mistake in this sentence:**

_Audrey whispered something fast and low through the door, even too fast and low for my hearing. The door opened. There was a large balding, fierce looking man holding the door open for us_.

**Just replace the name Audrey with the name Diem. Thanks for pointing that out! Cyber cookies for you! Hope you enjoy this chapter! R&R!**

**DISCLAIMER: Yo no poseo el Anochecer. Stephenie Meyer hace. Yo sin embargo posee Audrey, Wes, Damien, Zana, Diem, Gavin, y cualquier otros nuevos caracteres que vienen. Poseo también el título y el complot forra. (HAHA That is Spanish! Try and read that lawyers!)**

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_Chapter Two_

_Of Ashes_

Edward was still beautiful, ungodly so. If anything, he looked even more beautiful. He looked tormented and depressed. He looked like a man who had to live in guilt, shame, and denial for decades. Or maybe for seventeen years.

"Bella!" he called, his face a mask of disbelief and shock.

I turned around speedily and started walking away at pace much too quick to be human.

"Bella, listen to me!" he was suddenly right behind me.

"If you're here to apologize, I think you're a little late. No wait, not a little late, try seventeen years too late," I huffed without breaking stride.

"Apologize? Bella what are you talking about?" Edward said, clearly confused.

"For leaving me when I needed you most. You may not think that's something to apologize for Edward, but I certainly do," I knew if I was human I would've been crying right now.

"Bella, I thought you were dead! Audrey said you were dead! But you're a vampire? How did that happen?" He said quickly, much too quick for human ears.

We were starting to get stares from a lot of people in the street.

"Audrey told me you left, that's why she stayed with me. She's my family now, not you Edward," I hissed.

"Audrey lied, she just tried to ruin us," he said, his eyes turning black.

"Yeah, right Edward," I hissed.

He grabbed my arm and spun me to face him. A lot of men started walking towards Edward to 'save' me.

"Bella, do you really think I would leave you?" he whispered to me in a tortured voice.

I used my power and made his strength to that of a human's. I placed my hand on his chest and whispered "yes" before pushing him back forcefully. He landed around five yards back. A lot of people around me started applauding.

I sped up in the general direction of my apartment. I was so confused. I wanted to believe Edward more then I had ever wanted anything, but if he wanted me so badly then how come her hadn't tried to find me sooner?

I walked around random parts of New York for hours. I even went into some big toy store and bought a stuffed animal toy. Not until I was around half way home did I realize that the toy was supposed to be a mountain lion.

That's when I realized what I had to do. Even if I didn't get back together with Edward, I had to break up with Gavin. I couldn't do this to him anymore.

When I got to the bottom of the small apartment building I ran into Gavin.

"Where have you been?" I asked, confused.

"I went looking for you. You said you wanted to go explore the city, well you've been gone for eight hours," he said, his voice frenzied.

"I'm sorry, I'm okay," I said.

He moved in to hug me but I pushed away awkwardly.

"Gavin, there's something we need to talk about," I whispered.

He let out a sigh and ran a hand through his dark hair.

"I knew this was coming," he said.

"Then why did we stay together?" I asked feebly.

"Because I kept a vain hope that maybe you would change your mind. I love you, Bella," he said, exasperated.

"I love you, too Gavin. That's why we have to break up. As much as I love you, I know I can never stay with you," I said.

"Does it have to do with your old boyfriend?" he asked.

"Partially, but mostly I just need sometime for myself," I answered honestly.

That's when we heard an anguished scream that sounded a lot like Wes's. We both glanced at each other and ran up the stairs to our apartment at vampire speed and burst into it.

There were candles everywhere and a soft jazz song playing. There were fragments of shredded red silk and blood littered over the floor.

We walked around the couch and saw Wes clutching his head rocking back and forth, tearless sobs racking through his body.

On the floor in front of him was what looked like the remains of Audrey.

I gasped in shock and started to sob, also. I fell weakly to the floor. Gavin seemed too shocked for words.

"It was you!" Wes screamed, pointing at me.

"W-what?" I stuttered.

"It was your fault!" he screamed, throwing a small piece of paper at me.

I picked it up and read it to myself, with Gavin reading over my shoulder. It read:

_Isabella,_

_This was for you. I hope you like it; this is only the start of the presents you'll be getting from me._

_Love,_

_Your Secret Admirer_

"What? You can't honestly think I asked for this, Wes. Be reasonable," I pleaded. I looked up at Gavin for support but he said nothing.

I stood up, still sobbing, and ran into the room that was Audrey's and mine. I gabbed my small duffel bag and stuffed all of my belongings in it. I couldn't stay here. I ran out of the room and looked at Wes and Gavin one more time.

"Goodbye, then," I whispered, running out of the apartment.

I now had no money, nowhere to stay, and no family or friends. I was absolutely screwed. I couldn't put it any other way.

I was sitting on a random fire escape, taking in the beautiful sunset over the skyscrapers, and waiting for twilight.

"Just thinking?" a female voice asked from behind me.

I turned my head feebly. My emotions were too worn to be surprised that I hadn't heard her. It was Diem. She came and sat next to me.

"Whenever I missed my old life, Audrey would always pull to the side of the road and we would climb the highest tree or telephone poll we could find to watch the sunset and the twilight come. I called it my blue haven," I reminisced, smiling.

We watched the sunset in silence. When twilight was finally coming to an end, Diem spoke.

"I'm really sorry for your loss," she said kindly.

"She didn't deserve to go like that," I said.

"I hate to bring this up at such a hard time, but am I to believe that you are now out of a home?" she inquired. She was careful about her word choices.

"Yeah," I said, my former glum mood returning.

"Why don't you stay at the resistance base? That's where all the other members sleep. Well, not sleep but you know what I mean. It's got plenty of room," she said.

"Oh no it's okay-" I started to object, but she cut me off.

"Do you really have any place better to go?" she said, slightly offended.

I sighed.

"I guess I don't see the harm in it," I said.

We ran to where the door in the alley was. The pool hall was slightly less crowded and Cullen-free, I noted. She walked me through the doorway in the east wall and down a long hall with door on both sides.

She came to one door and knocked politely. A beautiful girl answered the door. She was very pale and very tall with the usual topaz eyes, but her hair was pitch black. It was bone straight and ran to about her butt area, and she had long bangs on her forehead that came down past her eyebrows.

"Yes?" she asked, with a foreign accent that I couldn't quite place.

"This is Bella, she'll be taking the west wing of the room," Diem informed her.

A man ran up to Diem and whispered something into her ear.

"I've got to go, but you two can just get acquainted," Diem said perkily.

The room had dark wooden floors and brick walls with no windows. There were two walk-in closets, one for each of us. We also had our own bathroom that we had to share.

She walked to what would be my wing of the room and started removing anime styled posters she had put up.

"Oh don't worry about it, I don't mind," I said lightly.

She smiled.

On both sides there were bookshelves, desks with computers, tables with lamps, pictures, posters, flowers, mirrors, rugs, chairs, and oddly, beds. There was a small kitchenette in the middle of the room. It looked sort of like the kitchens in hotel rooms. It was very homey.

"A bed?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

The girl laughed.

"A lot of us hassled Diem and the other group leaders to get them. They are much more comfortable then chairs," she said with a beautiful smile. "My name is Zana, by the way."

I smiled back kindly.

"So how many people are their total in the resistance?" I asked curiously, while putting away my clothes in the closet.

"Around two hundred I think," she answered.

"And do they all live down here?" I asked, astonished.

"Yup, this place is actually very big. Though some of the rooms aren't this nice. We happen to be higher up then some of the others," she said proudly.

"Why?" I wondered aloud.

"Because we've met Damien face to face, plus our 'gifts' are stronger then normal vampires."

"What's your gift if you don't mind me asking?" I asked, finished putting away my clothes.

I sat on my bed. She was laying on hers, feet in the air, reading a magazine. She tossed me one.

"I can move things with my mind, though I haven't really learned how to utilize it to it's full potential. I can't really control it, actually," she admitted with a sheepish grin.

"So should I expect to see random objects floating around the room from time to time?" I joked. We both broke out in laughter.

"So what are the perks of our room?" I asked.

"We have our own bathroom and our own computers, and a kitchen," she said with a big smile.

"Kitchens and bathrooms are kind of useless, though," I pointed out.

"No, we have our own shower. The people who don't have their own bathrooms have to use these sort of locker room things. The kitchen is useless though," she corrected.

We sat in silence and read our magazines for a while. I only broke the silence when the question I knew I needed to ask popped into my head.

"Do you happen to know any of the Cullens?" I asked hesitantly.

"I think everyone does. One of them lost his wife, who supposedly was like a mother figure to the rest of them," she started sadly. "And another one lost the girl he was going to propose to."

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**Hope you liked it! By the way, her name is said sort of like "Rain-a" but with a Z. Please review and tell me what you think!**


	3. The Base

**I figured I should hurry up and update as a sorry for making you guys wait so long for the last update lol. Enjoy this chapter - it has a lighter mood then the last two! Hope you like it! R&R!**

**DISCLAIMER: Je ne possède pas le Crépuscule, Stephenie Meyer fait. Je possède tous les nouveaux caractères, le titre, et le terrain, bien que. (HAHA That's in French! Not only can you not sue me, but you can't read it either hehehe!)**

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Chapter Three

_The Base_

My jaw dropped open. Edward was the only one who wasn't married, so was it true he wanted to propose to me? Waves of guilt and torment washed over me as I realized that he had lost Esme and me on one night, and as soon as he found me I pushed him away. Literally.

"Bella, are you okay?" Zana asked worriedly.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I was just thinking. You don't happen to know where the Cullens stay do you?" I asked.

"No, sorry, but I bet if you asked around you could find it," she offered helpfully.

"Okay, thanks. I guess I'm going to do some base exploring," I said lamely, letting out a nervous giggle.

Zana just let out a little laugh and nodded her head, looking at me like I was crazy.

I slipped on shoes and made my way to the door.

"Oh! Here," Zana called out, throwing me a key. "For the room."

"Thanks, I won't be long," I said, walking into the hallway and closing the door behind me.

The halls were pretty busy. People were going in and out of rooms, people were sitting on the floor talking and playing cards, and down the hall I could see a bunch of vampires hanging around the poolroom, some playing and some watching.

I walked the opposite way of the poolroom, deeper down the hall. I was careful to avoid bumping into someone and causing confrontation. It was a lot like a college dorm, or at least college dorms that I had seen on TV or in movies.

A very handsome vampire was walking towards me in just a towel; if I could've blushed I would've. He smiled flirtatiously at me and nodded his head; I smiled back. Then his towel fell off of him.

I let out a small squeak, but inside I was screaming out of embarrassment. I skipped past him and down the hall. If I could've blushed I'm sure I would've popped a vain.

In my haste I tripped over someone on the floor, hit a girl vampire who was just emerging from the female locker room, who then in turn hit a small table that was by the door which then fell over causing the vase on top of it to hit the ground and roll, tripping a guy emerging from the male locker room, who then tripped and caused the two vampires next to him to also fall, one of which who was Jasper.

"I'm sorry," I squeaked, not sure who to apologize to.

This was just great. My first night in the base and I tripped half of the tenants.

Several vampires in the hall were roaring with laughter. Diem walked out of a room a little further down the hall to see what the commotion was. She saw me standing there looking embarrassed, a knocked over table and vase, and several vampires on the ground. She then also broke out laughing.

Several other people who I also assumed to be resistance leaders came out after her and also started laughing.

I was starting to get very mad at my life. If I didn't accidentally get someone around me killed I at least had to trip them. I turned around and walked back towards the room. I opened the door to see two vampires going at it.

I quickly closed the door and walked into the room next to it, where thankfully Zana was sitting on her bed with a curious look on her face.

"Don't ask," I muttered darkly.

"Wow, look at that. You're actually blushing," she commented.

"What!" I screeched, and ran to the nearest mirror.

Sure enough, there on my cheeks was a faint hint of red.

"Well there goes the only good thing about being a vampire out the window!" I fumed.

Zana walked over to me pulled me into a hug.

"Is something wrong?" she asked sympathetically.

We sat on the edge of my bed where I explained to her every bad thing in the past seventeen years including the change, Damien surviving, Edward and his family leaving, Esme dying, Audrey dying, breaking up with Gavin, Wes blaming me, pushing Edward on the street, and finding out that Edward was going to propose that had happened to me.

When I looked at the clock I saw that I had been dry sobbing and talking for three hours.

"I'm sorry, Zana," I said, righting myself.

"It's okay. It sounds like you've been through a lot," she said.

"You could say that," I muttered.

"I think you should talk to Edward and his family," she suggested.

"Why?" I asked.

"Well for one, they sound like the root of your pain. And two, you still love Edward," she said softly.

"I know," I whispered.

Then the small phone in the room rang. Zana walked over to it and answered it.

"Of course," she said, after being silent for a couple of minutes, and then hung up.

She turned to me smiling hugely.

"Get up," she said, turning to her closet.

"Diem just invited us to a Leader's Ball, where only the resistance leaders and those of our standards are invited, and we are not going like this," she said, indicating our clothes.

I laughed, she reminded me so much of Alice, and got up to follow her. To be honest, I was sort of excited about flaunting my new vampire body. I hadn't been in a dress since the Masquerade.

Zana put on what looked like a big, men's t-shirt made completely of large silver sequins. The sleeves went down to her elbows and the dress itself went to her mid thigh. She then put a wide, silk, red wine colored scarf around her waist, tying it in the back so that the dress came tight in her middle but was loose on the bottom and top. It had a deep v-neck. She wore knee high black leather boots.

My dress was made completely of red silk. It was strapless and sleeveless, with a corset type top piece that was tight and fitting. The bottom only went to about my knees, but it poofed out into short, layered, red silk ruffles. There was a pretty little silver emblem towards the end of the bodice.

Zana and I walked down the hall together to where the ball would take place. She noticed how nervous I was, so she linked arms with me and we gracefully skipped. Every male vampire we came across gaped.

"We look hot," I said, smiling hugely.

"Honey, they see me like this all the time. Trust me on this, they are gawking at you," she said, and she actually sounded proud and not jealous in the least.

We stopped at a huge pair of doors. My mouth dropped in shock. Zana giggled. I then looked around. There were around ten vampires standing outside the door waiting like us. Except they were all staring at me.

I let out a nervous giggle.

I then saw that six of the vampires were the Cullens, and my giggle stopped short. Suddenly the large doors opened, and the large bald man I had seen on my very first day here gestured us all in.

The inside was beautiful. There was a white wood border to about half way up the walls, which then turned into beautiful paintings chariots and angels. The white ceiling was domed and had beautiful carvings in it. For light, five beautiful chandeliers were placed along the ceiling. The floor was a beautiful burgundy rug.

The long table in the center of the room was made of dark cherry wood, though the long center of the table was glass. There were ten high backed chairs on each side of the table, plus one at each end. The chairs were made to match the table, though where the head and back would rest and where the butt would sit was a burgundy material that matched the carpet.

We all stayed towards one end of the table, seven people sat on one side of the table, with seven people opposite them. A man sat at the end of the table we were all nearest to.

On my side of the table it was Diem, me, Zana, then Jasper and Alice, a man I didn't recognize and a woman I didn't recognize either. Across from Diem sat a man who kept shooting Diem flirtatious glances, which she returned. Across from me, embarrassingly enough, sat the guy whose towel fell off of him in the hallway. Across from Zana sat Edward, who was watching me. Then it went Carlisle, Rosalie, Emmett, and the weird bald guy.

At the end of the table to Diem's left and the guy she was flirting with's right, sat a very wise looking man who at the same time looked no older then Carlisle. That man then broke the silence.

"Hello, friends. I wouldn't bother with introductions, but I think it is only fair now that we have a new member to our ranks. Welcome, Miss Isabella Swan," he said royally.

"Hello," I murmured shyly.

The man smiled and continued.

"My name is Vincent Price, and I started this resistance. To my right is Miss Diem Sawyer; to your right are Miss Zana Cruise, Mister Jasper Hale, Miss Alice Cullen, Mister Neil Parks, and Miss Lillian Hath. To my left is Mister Micah Grey, Mister Riley James who I'm sure you're already familiar with," he said with a devilish grin, while Riley and I looked down in embarrassment. "Mister Edward Cullen, Mister Carlisle Cullen, Miss Rosalie Hale, Mister Emmett Cullen, and Mister Konan Craig."

"Well now that the introductions are over, we can drop the serious manner. Feel free to socialize with whomever while you eat," he continued kindly.

"Eat?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He just laughed while a lady set down a huge platter in the middle of us all. We were all handed wine glasses and mini ladles. Vincent removed the top off of the platter revealing a large wine bowl of blood. I looked at it skeptically

"It's animal of course," he assured me.

I, like the others, then starting ladling the blood into my glass. People were drinking it like it was wine and conversing as if they weren't vampires, just regular people. I turned to Zana.

"This is…different," I managed.

"It is a bit weird during the first time, but it actually gets pretty fun," she assured me.

"So, Isabella," Riley started.

"She prefers Bella," Edward cut in.

Riley looked at Edward with his eyebrow raised, but then turned his attention back to me.

"_Bella_ then. Where did you move from?" he inquired, before taking a small sip of blood.

This is so weird! I thought.

"Umm Forks, Washington," I said shyly.

"The rainiest place in the continental US, how nice," Vincent said.

I just smiled and nodded my head, feeling completely awkward.

Edward still had his eyes on me, so I turned my head to talk to Diem.

"Bella, I would like you to meet my boyfriend, Micah," she said, smiling.

"Hi," I said nicely, shaking his hand.

"I'm very sorry to hear about your friend," He said solemnly.

"Audrey?" Rosalie inquired snidely.

I turned my head to her a fraction of an inch.

"Yes, Audrey," I said, struggling to maintain my politeness.

"I heard she got ripped to shreds," Rosalie continued rudely.

"I don't prefer to call it that, but I guess that's what happened," I said, still not completely facing her.

I was wondering why no one was breaking her off from her rude questions, but everyone seemed to be listening intently.

"Serves her right," Rosalie said, taking a sip of blood.

I turned my head to tell her off when the girl named Lillian spoke up.

"Do you two know each other?" she asked timidly.

"Unfortunately," I said. My eyes widened in shock when I realized what I had said.

Rosalie was glaring at me.

"Well then," Diem said with a nervous giggle, trying to break the awkward silence that followed my rude remark.

"Well now might be a good time to spread the news that Diem and I are engaged!" Micah said cheerfully in an attempt to bring back the light mood.

Everyone complimented them and said how great a couple they'll make while Diem showed everyone her ring. It was beautiful, huge, and expensive looking. This news just made me more upset, though, because it brought back old memories.

I looked up at Edward and saw him staring at me with the same depressed, tortured expression. He seemed surprised at my mood.

Before I really thought about what I was doing, to Edward I whispered the words "I know".

His eyebrows rose in shock before he whispered back.

"What would you have said?" he whispered in a heart-breakingly sad voice.

For the third time that night I spoke without thinking.

"Yes."

* * *

**Sorry for my annoying habit of leaving you all cliffhangers. Lol. Please review! And if you want to see Bella's dress PM me your email address. I got the idea of Zana's dress (and basically her whole look) from Zayra (spelling?) from Rockstar: Supernova. Once again, review if you want the chapter sooner! Nothing is more motivating then that little noise that pops up when I get an email lol. Especially when that email is a review notice ;P**


	4. Surprise, Surprise

**Chapter Four is here! I actually like this chapter a lot, though it's sort of short. I'm really sorry for the length, I'll try and improve on that. Well anyways, I hope you like it! R&R Please!**

**DISCLAIMER: Ich besitze Halbdunkel nicht! Stephenie Meyer macht! Ich mache jedoch besitze diese ganze Handlung und alle neuen Charaktere, die Sie sich treffen! Und ich besitze den Titel! (HAHA That is German, lawyers! You can't sue me yet at the same time you can't read it! Mwahahahaha!)**

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Chapter Four

_Surprise, Surprise_

His eyes seemed to fill with despair, and I was sure mine were too. I felt horrible; I felt a mixture of anger and sadness. Anger because I could've been Edward's wife; we could've had our seventeenth anniversary this year. Sadness because I had actually thought he would leave me. How stupid I had been.

I was just about to open my mouth and ask to speak to him in private when Lillian's hand stretched out from across the table and grabbed Edward's.

"Honey, is there something wrong?" she asked tenderly.

My dead heart seemed to shatter. It was stupid for me to think that Edward wouldn't have gotten another girlfriend in seventeen years; I mean I had gotten a boyfriend, but it still hurt. A lot.

"Excuse me, I have to use the restroom," I lied feebly, temporarily forgetting that vampires didn't go to the bathroom.

Diem, Zana, Riley, Micah, Vincent, the Cullens, well pretty much everyone, was staring at me in concern.

"I'm fine. I just…uh…forgot something in my room," I said quickly, trying hard not to sob, before leaving the room.

I could hear chairs pulling out behind me and I could only pray that it wasn't Edward's. It came as relief when I recognized Diem and Zana's footsteps behind me. I rounded the corner and sank to the floor, letting dry sobs rack my body.

"Shh, Bella it's okay, it's okay. What happened?" Zana cooed.

"I'm so stupid," I said between sobs.

"No, no you're not. Tell us what happened," Diem said softly.

I knew the others could still hear us from the dining hall, so I mouthed the words "not here". They understood. We walked slowly to mine and Zana's room.

When we got into the room we shut the door behind us. I lay down on my bed and Zana sat down by my feet. Diem sat with her legs criss-crossed on the floor. They stared at me, their eyes sympathetic yet curious.

"He has a girlfriend. I should've known," I groaned, slapping my forehead with hand.

"Edward?" asked Zana cautiously.

"Yes," I sobbed.

"Well, I hate to say this, but don't you have a boyfriend?" Diem asked timidly.

"I broke up with him when I saw Edward. I knew it wasn't right to do that to him," I admitted.

"Maybe Edward will do the same," Zana said perkily.

"Edward isn't like that," I said.

"Not like what? She's most likely just a rebound," said Zana.

"He's too classy for just a rebound, he most likely cares for her on some degree if he's with her," I said.

"Well, maybe it's time you moved on," Diem said.

Zana and I both turned to her, shocked.

"Well, you've had seventeen years of wondering about him, if he was alive, if he missed you and all the jazz. Now you know he's okay, and you can take some kind of closure from that. Maybe you two can still be friends. Riley looked pretty into you," she joked.

Zana laughed and I cracked a smile. I was too lost in thought to actually laugh. What she said made sense, and it was worth a try. It was better then just moping around.

"And look, on the bright side, Bella," Zana said with a frighteningly mischievous grin. "You already know Riley has a nice package."

"What!" Diem screamed, her eyes wide and a big smile on her face, while Zana and I rolled around in raucous laughter.

"Let's just say Riley '_accidentally_'," Zana made little quotation marks with her fingers and rolled her eyes as she said that, "dropped his towel in the hall when Bella passed him."

We all broke out into laughter when she said that. Riley _was_ kind of hot. And he _did _have a nice package. But what about his personality?

"I think you guys are right," I said.

"About what?" they asked in unison.

"I think I might try and go out with Riley," I announced.

Their eyes nearly popped out of their heads.

"No! nonononononono! Bella we were just joking!" Diem shouted.

"You cannot be serious, Bella," Zana asked with her eyebrows raised.

"Just as friends. I mean, maybe it will clear my head. I don't think it would be fair to Edward or Lillian if I came along and just broke them up, so maybe going out with someone will clear my head," I said reasonably.

"If you say so," Zana said skeptically.

"I will be right back," I announced, getting up with a flourish.

I skipped to the door and opened it to see a very angry looking Alice. I let out a shriek and jumped about five feet in the air.

"Holy crow, Alice! Don't do that again!" I fumed. If my heart still worked I would've gotten a heart attack right there.

She roughly shoved me into the room. Zana and Diem came up to stand on either side of me.

"Alice, cool off," Diem said worriedly, for Alice looked murderous.

"I just basically had to wrestle Edward down so he wouldn't come find you, Bella! I told him I would talk to you for him and that I would calm you down! But apparently you don't need any of that, for your giggling and having a jolly old time, aren't you! You're even dating now!" She fumed.

"Alice, what are you talking about? I'm not dating anyone," I said hesitantly. Truth be told, I was frightened of her.

"I heard you from the hall, Isabella Swan, so don't you lie to me. You were just going to ask that _Riley_," she sneered his name, "out!"

"Well I don't plan on breaking Lillian and Edward up anytime soon, so I might as well at least attempt to move on!" I shouted back. Alice was starting to get me mad.

"Oh, Bella! Don't even kid yourself! You very well know that Edward has never felt close to anyone else what he felt for you! Sure he loves Lillian, he's been with her for two years, but never, not once in those two years has he felt for her what he felt for you!" She shouted.

"Alice, I-" I started to say, but she cut me off. I looked down, embarrassed.

"Don't you even pretend that you're over him! It couldn't be more obvious! You have a mountain lion stuffed animal for goodness sakes! Stop playing games! Stop hurting yourself! And goddamn it stop hurting Edward!" she screamed.

She turned around and stomped out of the room before I even had a chance to respond. I kept opening and closing my mouth with the intention of speaking, but I was too shocked. Diem and Zana were also too stunned to move.

I shrank to the floor. I clutched my knees to my chest and started to dry sob. Diem and Zana both sank to the floor also, and mimicking my position, both started to sob, also. I wasn't even sure why we were sobbing, but it felt good. We sat there, in our beautiful dresses, sobbing for hours.

A knock on the doorframe made us all look up. Riley was leaning against the frame in his suit. He had his suit jacket slung over his arm, and he was watching us all with a small smile.

"What's so funny?" Zana managed between sobs.

"It just reminds me of an old movie I saw, seeing you all sit in here in your fancy dresses, sobbing over nothing imparticular," he said, his smile growing more pronounced.

We all started laughing, which was actually quite hard when you're sobbing at the same time. We all looked at each other and started laughing harder. It then dawned on us how we had been sitting here in expensive dresses crying for who knows how long with the door wide open.

We then were flat out rolling on the ground in laughter. Riley walked in and sat on the floor in front us, a big smile plastered on his face.

I sat up. Not that I really needed to, just out of habit, I started wiping my eyes where the tears would've fallen. I looked at Riley, and forgetting completely what Alice had said, I asked him out.

"Riley, would you like to go out sometime?"

He looked taken aback, then pleasantly surprised. His big smile grew even bigger as he answered.

"Yes, yes I would."

"Good," I said with a big smile of my own, and we both started to laugh.

Zana and Diem were staring at me like I was crazy. I conveniently ignored them.

"How about I stop by your room at eight and pick you up? We can go out for dinner or something?" he asked.

"That would be spectacular," I said, still smiling.

"See you then," he said, getting up and offering me his hand to help me up.

I took it and walked him to the door. We smiled at each other before I shut the door.

I felt two things. One was nervous. I hadn't been on a first date in what felt like forever, and I sort of forgot the routine. The other emotion was guilt. I felt immensely guilty for defying Alice and for what felt like betraying Edward.

I turned around to face Diem and Zana. Their eyes held shock and disapproval.

"I know you guys don't really approve of this, but would you mind helping me find an outfit?" I asked timidly.

They seemed to regain their composure before smiling and answering.

"Of course," they said, smiling kindly.

In the end we decided on a pair of very fitting, slightly faded, blue jeans. I put on a nice white lacey tank top that had a ribbon come around just beneath the breast area and tie nicely in the front. I put on a burgundy colored female suede blazer. I put on a simple gold necklace with an amethyst stone that matched the blazer nicely. For shoes I wore ankle high leather boots with a slight heel.

I kept my hair down, though I primped it slightly so it appeared to have more 'bounce'. I wore no make up, and in the end I thought I looked very good.

Right on time there was a knock on the door. I nervously went to go get it while Diem and Zana gave me thumbs up and encouraging smiles. When I opened it, Riley looked great.

His disheveled, ear length, dirty blonde hair was gelled and combed to the side. He had a very tight fitting navy blue sweater on with a black leather jacket over it. He had dark blue jeans on. For shoes he wore a very cool, classic pair of black suede Puma's.

He smiled when he saw me and handed me a bouquet of freesias. I smiled back at him. He hesitantly put his arm around my waist as we walked out of the base. People kept giving us surprised stares. All the men's eyes were lustful looking at me, and all the women's were lustful looking at Riley.

I smiled nervously to them all. I thought I had made it through Cullen free, and I was feeling very lucky, until I saw Rosalie and Alice in the poolroom.

They were staring daggers at me, and the guilt I had felt earlier suddenly flared up inside me. Yet despite that guilt, and despite how wrong I knew I was being, I continued along with Riley.

We made it up the stairs and outside and I took a deep breath.

"Well that was weird-" I started, but I stopped dead in my tracks.

Edward was leaning against the outside of the building, and he was looking pissed.

* * *

**Hope you liked it! Sorry for my annoying habit of leaving off at cliffhangers once again lol. Please review!**


	5. Crashes and Showers

**Because I love you all (my faithful readersreviewers) so much, I decided to take your advice. One, I wrote a really long chapter, like double my last chapter almost. Two, I didn't end at a cliffhanger ;). Three, I updated quickly! Now don't expect this kind of treatment regularly lol, but I got a lot of great reviews from a lot of great people, so I figured I would treat you all to a nice, long, fluffy chapter. By the way, it gets pretty steamy so be mature lol. Love you guys! Lol and I'm expectingA LOT of reviews for this long, cliffhanger-less, quickly posted, chapter!**

**PS - Hollywood-Violet called me snippy. I am not snippy lol I swear. She's just crazy ;P**

**DISCLAIMER: I'll be nice, lawyers, and post this disclaimer in English lol. I do not own Twilight! Stephenie Meyer does, though I do however own the plot, the new characters, and the title. Yeah, I rock _that_ much. ;P**

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Chapter Five

_Crashes and Showers_

Oh. My. God. I had never been more scared in my entire existence then when I saw Edward leaning against the wall. He looked shocked, angry, and very sad. His eyes seemed to turn pitch black when he saw us.

"Whoa! Hey man what the hell? That was so not cool," Riley said, wide eyed. He had jumped around a foot in the air when he saw Edward.

That's exactly what I needed, for my date to be afraid of my ex boyfriend. That was just peachy.

"Bella, go back inside," Edward said darkly.

"No can do, sorry, Cullen. Miss Swan and I are going out on a date," Riley perked up in my defense.

"I don't know what made her say yes when you asked her to go out with you, but she was obviously not in her right mind. Now Bella, just go inside," Edward continued, his anger seeming to grow.

"Actually, _she_ asked _me _out. So if you'll just excuse us," Riley said, trying to maneuver around Edward, which proved useless.

I kept me eyes on the ground the whole time though when Edward called my name I had to look up.

"Bella," he said, and his voice sounded surprisingly vulnerable. I looked up and met his gaze, his heart breakingly sad eyes piercing me.

"Is that true?" he continued weakly.

"Edward I-" I started to interject, but he was suddenly gone.

"Sorry about that," Riley said, trying to shake it off.

He hesitantly grabbed my hand in his and started to lead me out of the alley that served as the foyer to the base.

We went to a nice little game's place on the corner of a busy street. The whole side of the place visible to the public was glass, so we got a table in the restaurant nearest the intersection of the street outside.

The place was small. Riley had wanted to take me somewhere nicer, but I insisted that we stayed closer to the base. The whole purpose of the place was that each table had little games, such as checkers, chess, and dominoes, and the people at the place could play games while eating.

The waitress came with menus asking what we would like to drink. She batted her eyebrows flirtatiously at Riley, and surprisingly I didn't care. I was much too lost in thought about Edward.

We told the waitress that we were just here for the games, and she didn't bother us for the rest of the night. We started a game of Connect Four while we talked.

"So how long did you and Cullen date?" Riley asked me casually. He was starting to act a lot like Mike.

"_Edward_ and I dated for around a year, a year and a half," I answered nonchalantly.

"I think he still has feelings for you," he stated bluntly.

"Well he has Lillian now, he's not allowed to have feelings for me," I said. I thought my voice sounded depressed, but luckily Riley didn't.

"I guess," he said.

"So why are you in the little clique at the base?" I casually inquired.

"I've had the unpleasant experience of meeting Damien face to face," he said, distracted by the game.

"How? Like how did you guys meet each other?" I asked, annoyed.

"Oh, don't worry about that. This is a date; don't worry your pretty little head with matters like that. All of us men at the base have things under control," he said, smiling.

I was very annoyed now.

"A good amount of the people in charge of the base are women you know," I hissed.

"Oh, well yes, I guess. But they're just their for show," He said, winking. He flashed me his pathetic attempt at a dazzling smile.

"You're not nearly as charming as you think you are," I said coldly.

He seemed shocked.

"Well a lot of the women in the base would beg to differ," he said.

I placed my hands on the table and slowly started rising to my feet. He did also.

"Well maybe if they saw what was under the towel like I did they wouldn't be so charmed," I hissed cruelly.

His face registered shock, anger, embarrassment, and wounded male pride, though he never got to respond, for at that moment a car flew through the glass window we sitting by.

It slammed into Riley and I, but though we were unscathed we were still shocked. It flew, with us stuck to the front of it, through the small restaurant. We both managed to get ourselves off of it before it slammed into the front counter.

We both landed on our feet with no damage except that our clothes were ripped. I had glass and debris on me, so I started rubbing it off. Riley was doing that also.

It wasn't until several minutes later that I realized that other people in the restaurant were staring at Riley and I with a mixture of fear, shock, and disbelief in their eyes.

I coughed to get Riley's attention. He looked around, shocked, also. He looked at me and nodded. We both ran faster then we ever had before back to the base. We did not want to meet and cops or paramedics.

We entered the base and immediately started looking for Vincent. We finally found him in a conference room, sitting with Diem, Micah, Lillian, Neil, Konan, Carlisle, and Rosalie. They all were hunched over several sheets of paper and talking fast and low.

"Ehem," Riley cleared his voice to make our presence known. They obviously had been too busy to hear us approach.

"Can I help-" Vincent started, annoyed, but then he saw our appearances, which must've looked pretty messed up, and quickly changed his demeanor. "Goodness, what happened to you both?"

"We were at a deli when a car crashed through the window nearest us and hit us," Riley said slowly.

I was looking at the ground, afraid that if I looked up I would meet Carlisle or Rosalie's eyes.

"That's awful! Did you see if anyone was in it?" Lillian asked, clearly shaken.

"That's not exactly the problem," Riley said, also looking down.

"Then what is?" Carlisle asked, concerned.

"The problem is that a whole load of humans saw us get hit by a flying car and then stand up, completely unscathed," I said harshly, finally looking up, for Riley was clearly not planning to answer.

"Oh, God," Vincent said, clearly in shock. The whole room looked shocked, actually.

"You-you two go clean up and then come back. We'll talk while you go," Vincent said, still stunned.

"We're screwed," Riley said as we were walking back to his room.

He went into his room, which was a little bit before mine, while I kept walking in a dazed silence.

"Bella!" a concerned voice called out from somewhere in front of me. "Bella, what happened?"

I looked up to see a concerned Edward running towards me. He grabbed my shoulders and gave me a once over.

"Did he do this to you?" he asked, his eyes growing darker in color.

"No," I said weakly.

"Let me help you into your apartment," he said. "I was going to wait inside of it for you, but your roommate wasn't there. I didn't want to intrude-" he began.

"Why were you going to wait for me?" I asked, bewildered, while he unlocked the door.

"I think we need to talk," he said, looking me in the eyes.

He opened the door and led me in, shutting it behind us. He helped me to the bathroom, where he started the shower so the water would have a chance to get hot.

He sat me on the counter and got a pair of tweezers out of the drawer.

"What do we need to talk about?" I asked, dazed, while he started inspecting the cuts on my legs through the tears in my jeans and the cuts on my arms.

"Us," he said.

"Edward, I just want you to know that going out with Riley was a stupid idea," I started, but I stopped and winced when he removed a large piece of glass from a cut in my knee.

"I don't see anymore glass in your legs or arms," he announced standing up.

"Did you hear me?" I asked, even though I knew he did.

"Yes, I did, Bella. And I think it's my turn to tell you that I never once felt what I felt for you with Lillian," he said softly.

"Why do we do this to each other, Edward?" I asked, laying my head against the mirror behind me.

He chuckled, and I felt my dead heart leap as I remembered how much I loved his laugh.

"Because we are hopelessly in love with each other," he said with a small smile, moving a stray lock of hair out of my face and tucking it behind my ear.

The closeness of our faces, the scent of his breath, drove me crazy.

I twined my fingers in his hair and pulled him closer to me until our lips were locked in a passionate embrace. Neither of us held back in the kiss. It's not like he had to refrain or that I had to breathe now that I was a vampire.

We broke apart a couple of minutes later, and just stared at each other.

"Wow," I finally managed.

Edward had removed my blazer earlier to inspect the cuts on my arms, so I just raised my arms in the air. His eyes widened in shock, and I just smiled.

He grabbed the bottom of my shirt, and slowly and gently lifted it off of me. He in turn lifted up his arms, and I removed his shirt. I couldn't repress a small smile. He smiled back, though there was unmistakable lust in his eyes.

My hands found his belt buckle on their own accord, and in an instance the belt was on the floor. In the next moment, so were his pants. He did the same to mine. Once we were both completely undressed we grabbed hands. Slowly we both stepped into the shower, for what would be the best hour of my life.

* * *

I ran down the hallway in a t-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops, my hair was still wet. When the resistance leaders said to clean up, I doubt they meant take an hour. I walked into the conference room awkwardly. 

"Sorry," I said when I noticed that Riley was already there.

"It's quite alright. We have come to a decision at what must be done," Vincent said sadly.

I took a chair and forced myself to listen intently and completely ignore all the curious glances I was getting. Rosalie was watching me with a devious smile. Carlisle's mouth was in a hard line, as if trying to repress laughter, though I doubted we were discussing joking matters.

"We have decided that it would be best if you and Mr. James here stayed out of the city for a while, as to not draw attention to yourselves or the base for that matter," he said.

I was heart broken at the thought of leaving Edward when we had just made up.

"And w-where will we be going?" I said, though my voice faltered in pain.

Carlisle and Rosalie both looked serious now, and so did the others, I noted. I surmised that this must have been a decision that Vincent made by himself.

"You and Mr. James, accompanied willingly by Ms. Sawyer and Mr. Grey," he said, indicating Diem and Micah "will be taking a little 'road trip' to the western side of the country to a little town I would presume you've heard of. You will be staying in Forks, Washington for around a month or so until the news dies down and people stop searching for you. The trip itself will take a long time though, I might think."

"The exact distance is three thousand eighty nine miles, and if a human were driving it would take around forty four hours. If each of you changes shifts, and if you get lucky with no traffic, I think you might be able to make the distance in half the time. Though I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to stop at some occasional landmarks," Vincent said with a genial smile.

Diem, Micah, and Riley looked excited, but I was actually sort of depressed.

"You all may go and pack your belongings now, you'll be leaving later today," Vincent said.

We all got up and left the room. I didn't go to pack however. I left the base and climbed the nearest fire escape I could find. I kept climbing higher and higher and I didn't stop until I reached the top of the tall building.

I sat on the edge, with my feet dangling off. New York City was beautiful at night. I could see the relatively new Freedom Tower standing tall where the Twin Towers used to be. I could see the beautiful Empire State Building, along with The Statue of Liberty.

But none of those held the most beauty. The most beautiful thing there was the colored blurs that were cars, and cabs, and little apartment windows. All the motion and the lights and sounds, how the city was so filled with people, each of them having a different tale to tell.

I wished at that moment I could just cry. I felt stupid and unlucky. I missed out on seventeen years of time with the man I loved, and then when I do find him, I wasted time playing games. And now I have to leave again.

I began to sob. Sometimes I just wished I were a human again. Some times I wished that I could just jump and end it all. But I knew it never was that easy, because life was never that fair to me.

"Sometimes don't you just wish you could jump and have it all be over?" A voice asked from behind me.

I was too sad to even be scared. Carlisle came and sat next to me, giving me a knowing look.

"Men spend their whole lives searching for immortality. Most of them never find it, and the thing they tried so hard to evade catches up with them. Death. It's amazing how much I wish I could be one of them sometimes," he said longingly, looking over the beautiful city all around us.

"I never pictured you to be someone who would want that," I whispered, shocked.

"I never did, until I lost Esme," he said sadly.

"I never got to tell you how sorry I am about that. She didn't deserve that," I whispered.

"No, she didn't" he said sadly.

"It would've been so much easier if I had taken her place," I said.

Carlisle looked at me fiercely.

"Never say that again," he said harshly.

"Why?" I sobbed. "You know it's true!"

"Bella, I had my time with Esme. Even though I wish I had her longer, it was still longer then any human. And that's what I have to remember. When I wish for death most, I just remember that if I was one of those men who searched for never ending life until death, I wouldn't have met Esme. And she's the one who made me feel I was meant to live," he said.

"That doesn't mean I shouldn't have died in her place!" I said roughly.

"Bella, if you would've died instead of Esme, Edward never would have gotten the chance to feel what I've already felt. And that's feeling you were put on this earth for a reason, which trust me, is a feeling every man should get at least once," he said strongly.

I couldn't face him. He lightly but forcefully grabbed my chin and made me look into his dark eyes.

"I like to think that Esme knew what was going to happen that day, and that she let herself be killed for you. Don't let her efforts be wasted," he said softly.

"But I don't know how! I have to leave Edward again!" I said, more sobs racking my body.

"Bella, you have to leave. But no one said you have to leave Edward," he said softly.

I looked at him, my eyes wide as what he said sunk in.

I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug.

"You would really give him up for me? When you need him so much?" I asked.

"You need each other more," he said softly.

I hugged him harder, sobs of joy racking my body.

"Thank you so much, Carlisle! How can I ever repay you?" I said. I didn't care how cliché I sounded; I honestly meant what I had said.

"By giving Edward a reason to live," he said softly.

"I love you, Carlisle. If I didn't have Edward I would sure fall for you," I joked, winking.

He laughed.

"I think now would be a good time to go tell Edward that he's going on a cross country road trip," Carlisle chuckled.

I let out a squeak of excitement as I hurriedly climbed back down the fire escape.

I ran into the base and down the hall towards my room. I slammed into Edward in my haste, causing us both to fall down. I just laughed and crawled into his lap, giving him a big kiss.

"Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?" he asked jokingly, but then he turned more serious. "And where were you?"

"I have to leave for Washington later today," I said with a big smile, though his face fell tremendously.

"And that's something to smile about?" he asked sadly.

"Well it is now that you're coming with me," I laughed.

His eyes widened in disbelief and a big smile formed on his face. He stood up, holding me in his arms.

"This should be fun," he said with a big smile.

I bit my bottom lip in excitement before agreeing.

"Oh yes it will."

* * *

**You better have liked that chapter lol! It has to have been I think the longest I've ever written - over 3000 words! Hey! You gotta' start somewhere lol. Now go review this chapter or else the next one will be really short and end off at a cliffhanger lol! Just kidding! Or am I? I seriously do not know.**


	6. Goodnight, My Angel

**Readers, it's finally a real update! Sorry it took so long since my last AU, but I got New Moon in the mail and I of course had to read that. I am truly sorry and I will try and update more regularly from now on. And for all those who think what happens in this chapter came at an odd time, it was necessary! So please enjoy, and thanks for not losing faith!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does.**

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Chapter Seven

_Goodnight, My Angel_

An eerie and odd silence fell over the RV. I could hear everything in the miles radiance, for the RV was _that _silent. Then Edward spoke into the phone again.

"Is…is my family okay?" he asked, sounding broken and extremely fearful for the answer.

I had completely forgotten about them! I immediately felt guilty.

"Yes, they were out hunting when the incident happened. They are…aren't back yet," she said, clearly still shaken up.

We all breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, Lillian, just stay with us for a little bit longer. We need to know who survived, and if we should go back," Edward said, regaining his composure quickly.

"I…I survived. So did your family. I was in a conference room…with Vince…when we heard the attack. They had been so stealthy! He told me to hide the documents we were working on…while…while…he went to check it out," she said, starting to sob again.

"So there are no other survivors?" Edward asked in awe.

Something seemed off about this, but I was too devastated to concentrate.

"And should we come back?" Micah prompted next to me, his voice filled with pain and grief while Diem sobbed into his arm.

"No…Vince told me tha-…tha-…that he…wanted you to lie low…and….stay safe," she managed, sobs still racking her body.

"Okay, we will. Keep safe Lillian," Edward said quietly, before hanging up.

Zana moved to the couch to sit, shocked. Micah held Diem tightly, letting her sob into him. Riley moved to the wheel while Edward got up to me. He held me tight, calming me down by humming my lullaby into my ears.

I broke into sobs just like Diem. I don't know how long we stood there; all I remember was one thing.

As I looked over Edward's shoulder and out the windshield, I saw the sign. I should've heeded the sign's warning, but instead I ignored it and the voice warning me inside my head. I convinced myself it was just vandalism.

The sign was a large and made of dark wood with big white letters. 'Welcome to Forks!' the sign read. Though the vandalism on the sign read other wise. All over the sign was random lettering and words, some in different languages.

There were men near the sign with containers of paint and paintbrushes in raincoats. They looked very grumpy to have to be working in the rain. I peeled my attention from them to look at the sign one last time, when a small sentence caught my eye. It wasn't done in the same color spray paint as the other vandalism; it was in pencil actually.

I was sure the only reason I could see it was because of my vampire vision.

'They are coming. Leave now while you can' the sign read. I heard my small intake of breath, which was a pure reflex. Edward looked at me curiously. I just shook my head.

As we were about to pass the sign one of the painters caught my eye. He smiled in one of the most eerie ways I had ever seen, and still not breaking eye contact, painted over the one, small sentence.

'No' I mouthed, feeling all of my breath desert me. The man's reaction is what scared me the most.

His smile grew more pronounced, and still not breaking eye contact, he winked.

-

Somehow Edward managed to maneuver the RV down the small road to his old house. I was in an intensely shaky mood, and for once, not even Edward's lullaby calmed me. That got him worried. Though I couldn't help but loosen up upon noticing the subtle gleam in Edward's eye from returning home. I just had to smile.

"Feeling better?" he asked me, smiling.

"Now that we are home, yes," I said, smiling back and snuggling up into his side.

"Wow, this is amazing," Zana said. The others said similar compliments, much too in awe of the house to really care what they were saying.

We got everyone settled into the house quickly. By choice, Edward and I decided to share his room. Diem and Micah took Rosalie and Emmett's room, and Riley and Zana put their stuff in Alice and Jasper's room.

Not that we needed to sleep, but privacy was always nice.

I was walking down the hall, my arms full of linens and towels to stock the bathroom with. I was completely lost in thought about what I saw on the sign. Should I tell Edward, or was I just being paranoid at a construction worker winking at a hot girl? It's not like that was unusual.

That's when a strong hand gripped my shoulder. I screamed loudly and spun around, the linens flying out of my arms. It was only Riley, but he looked mighty shocked.

"You!" I screamed, full of embarrassment, shock, and anger.

Then I shoved him in the shoulder, and hard. He went flying back, slamming into the wall. I had subconsciously released my power when he surprised me, making his strength not so super when I pushed him. I could've easily hurt him!

I sank to my knees in shock, all of the white linens slowly falling to the ground beside me. Edward, Zana, Diem, and Micah were all of a sudden rounding the corner, looking scared.

Confusion came over their face at first, but then it was replaced by understanding at seeing the scene before them.

I broke out into hard sobs, and in a second I felt Edward's strong arms around me as he whispered soothing words into my ear. I wasn't calming down.

"Come on," he said, gently pulling me to my feet.

"Where are we going?" I whispered into his shoulder.

"To the meadow," he said, gently leading me through the hall.

I cracked my eyes open as we walked past Riley. He looked unconscious on the floor, and Micah, Diem, and Zana were kneeling around him. Diem gave me one of those "It will be okay" looks, but I couldn't respond to it.

Edward then, realizing I wasn't able to move faster, scooped me into his arms and ran full speed out of the house and into the forest. As we passed by the thick green walls of trees around us, I got hit with old memories. A wave of homesickness washed over me.

When Edward arrived in the meadow, I had to gasp. It was the same beautifully rounded field of wildflowers, with the soft murmur of the creek not too far away, but now it seemed even more beautiful. It was now aged, yet its beauty was surreal and timeless.

Edward set me down in the very center of the meadow and then sat across from me. His eyes, which were boring into mine, were full of concern. We were getting wet from the gentle rain, though it was pouring much harder in town.

"Bella, what is wrong?" Edward asked, concerned.

"Nothing," I lied in a feeble whisper, looking down at the squishy grass.

"Bella," Edward whispered, pleading. I knew better then to look into his eyes. Those beautiful eyes could make me spill any secret.

After a few minutes of silence I could feel Edward's glare of disapproval. I heard him let out a little sigh of frustration.

"Don't get angry. Please don't be angry," I whispered, still not meeting his eyes.

"How can I not be angry?" he boomed, startling me. I looked up at him in shock. "You don't trust me, Bella. Ever since you got bitten! I didn't know you were alive, Bella I though I lost you. I never stopped loving you. And you don't trust me!"

"It's not that I don't trust you," I said in a weak voice. I was too emotionally drained to deal with this, even though my dead heart was shattering seeing Edward in such pain.

"Then what is it, Isabella? You don't love me any more? Why do you keep blocking me out?" he said, exasperated.

"I will always love you," I said, though the way I said it almost sounded like a goodbye. I myself was shocked, because I didn't know where I was going.

"Are you leaving?" Edward asked, his beautiful voice unbearably sad, though I could see a flicker of determination in his eyes. He wouldn't let me go.

I then stood up, realizing the one thing that had potential to make me better. Edward stood up also, grabbing my shoulders and turning me to face him. His beauty was magnificent with his dark topaz eyes so beautiful and so pained, his strange and lovely bronze hair disheveled and wet, along with the water dripping down his face, each rain drop running along each perfect feature of his angelic face.

"I will not let you go," he said fiercely.

"I need to go home," I said with a sudden blazing determination.

"We can go home together," he said, his tone matching mine.

I slowly removed his hands from my shoulders with the help of my power. I looked him in the eyes while I spoke.

"I need to see Charlie. I need to make sure he's okay. And I need to go alone. Don't crawl through my window at night. Don't visit, please. Just understand this. I love you. But I have to do this. I don't know why, I really don't. But I'm not going to fight it," I said passionately.

"I'll be waiting," he said, in a beautifully sad voice. At just the right time, a single raindrop landed on the corner of his eye and made its way down his beautiful cheek. If I hadn't known any better, I would've thought it was a tear.

I slowly walked away from him. When I was sure I had his beautiful face engraved in my mind, its beauty, its sorrow, its love, I took off and ran. I could hear Edward half-heartedly running behind me, but it soon faded.

I replayed the image of his face in my mind over and over again, making sure I never forgot it, because I didn't know when I would be seeing him again. And forgetting him was not an option.

-

I stood outside of Charlie's house, just staring at it, for an immeasurable amount of time. Nothing had changed. My lace curtains still hung in my window, the cruiser was parked in the drive way and the sound of a baseball game could be faintly heard coming from the living room.

I made my way up to the front door, and very cautiously, I knocked. I had to see him, and he had to see me. But then I got butterflies and I ran. I ran to the side of the house and looked through the window.

Charlie was walking back to the living room with a cane, looking very old and not too good in health. He was missing hair from the top of his head, and all his other hair was a wispy gray. He had liver spots and glasses. The most noticeable difference, to me, was the lack of gleam in his eyes. I wondered if that was from me.

That's when I noticed the large cross above the mantle. On one side of the cross was a framed picture of me before my 'death', and on the other side was a framed picture of Renee. _Oh no!_

I then read the small place attached in the center of the cross:

_In loving memory_

_Of Isabella Swan and Renee Dwyer._

_We will miss you._

She was gone. My mom, my best friend. She died and I wasn't there to hold her hand. If I could've cried I would. That's when I knew I absolutely, positively had to see Charlie. I had to do everything in my power to put that glint in his eye before he died.

I ran to the door and rapped it hard.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" came Charlie's annoyed voice from inside.

He opened it and stared at me. He looked puzzled. I watched as shock, realization, and joy spread over his face.

"Bella?" he called in disbelief.

"Dad," I said back, sobs starting to rack my body.

He pulled me into his arms and we stood there crying in joy in each other's arms, though Charlie was the only one actually shedding tears.

Over the next few weeks, I spent my time only with Charlie. I shopped for him, cooked for him, cleaned for him, talked with him, and watched TV with him. Slowly the glint in his eyes started coming back.

Everyday he would ask me if I was leaving again, and everyday I would say no. Sometimes Alzheimer's would kick in, and Charlie would go senile for a bit, but never permanently.

Since I could offer no logical explanation to why I was still seventeen after so many years, Charlie just one day decided that I was a Guardian Angel sent by God to take care of Charlie before he passed on. I would be here until Charlie died, and maybe after, and I would do anything to restore him happiness, so I didn't object.

Everyday I wondered about Edward and the others. Keeping my promise, Edward never came by. I never even smelled him within range of the house, nor did I ever see the others. I couldn't help but wonder if they would take me back in with welcome arms after I basically turned my back on the vampire world at such a crucial time.

More often then usual I would find myself drifting out of conscious every now and then and lapsing into a dream like state. Not sleeping, just daydreaming I guess. Though each dream was the same. Red eyes, rain, and the "Welcome to Forks" sign haunted me.

I sometimes wondered if being with Charlie would put him in danger, but I decided I would not let anyone hurt him even if they did try. I would protect him.

Charlie often grew restless at night when it rained too hard. I learned that he subconsciously associated the sound of heavy rain to mom and mine's deaths. I was heart broken when I thought about how many restless nights he must have had.

One night when it was raining extremely hard, Charlie got a fever. Between the fever and the rain, Charlie couldn't go to sleep. II was tempted to call a doctor and have them give something to Charlie for this cold, but I knew better then to assume that it was only a cold.

I sat on his bed with him and in an attempt to calm him down I tried to sing. He stopped me before I could, though.

"Bells, there is something I need to give you," he said hoarsely, moving to get up.

"No, don't move. I'll get it, where is it?" I said, trying to get him back down.

"I will get it," he said indignantly.

He grabbed his cane and slowly made his way over to his dresser drawer, where he removed a small box.

My eyes widened in recognition.

He sat back on the bed and placed it gently on my lap. I slowly opened it, and saw the beautiful porcelain mask sitting on its little velvet cushion.

"Dad," I breathed.

"It was your mothers when we went out. Although I don't know where that pesky little burn mark came from," he said, frustrated. He was obviously on the verge of passing away, for this memory that had been haunting him for years was now even lost to the Alzheimer's.

"I love it," I whispered pulling him into a hug.

"I'm glad, Bells. I love you," he said, drowsy. I sadly knew that this was the last time I would ever see my dad. Oh, how I would miss him.

"I love you, dad. And I am so, truly sorry," I said, letting his head rest on my shoulder. I laid my head gently down on his.

"Don't be sorry, honey. You gave my life meaning," he whispered, on the verge of sleeping.

"I love you," I whispered.

Then I did the only thing that made sense.

I sang to my dad the same lullaby Edward sang to me. I saw the slow smile spread across his lips and the more pronounced glint in his eyes before he drifted off to another place of which I will never know.

I then started to sob. Sob for my mom, my dad, Edward, everyone of the resistance who died, Carlisle, Esme, and me. I now knew first hand how cruel life was, and I knew there was only one thing that could make it better.

And that was the thing I had pushed away.

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**I hope you liked it! And yeah, I need you guys to tell me now if you would like or hate a final story to this possible trilogy. This story will end at a cliffhanger, though I may or may not write another one. There is very minimum chapters left, like one or two I think. Oh, and keep in mind, if there is another story it will most likely be out of Edward's perspective 99.9 of the time. Bella will have like a sort of cameo appearance.**


	7. Old Friends or New Enemies?

**It is so totally late and short, I know, and I am sooo sorry! When I made that promise in my last AU, I got New Moon the next day in the mail! So yeah, I had to take time and read that, then things got all hectic and I didn't have time to update, I'm sorry! But yeah, this chapter is short because the next chapter is the last and I think it deserves a chapter of its own! So tell me what you think!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Twilight!**

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Chapter Eight

_Old Friends or New Enemies?_

I spent the next few weeks deciding on arrangements for Charlie's funeral. Cash was no problem, so I made sure I bought Charlie top of the line everything. He was to be cremated, then his ashes would be thrown off of a large cliff in La Push, with a great view of the sunset, over the ocean. I chose this spot because not only was it beautiful, but also down below in the water was one of Charlie's favorite places to fish.

Despite the trouble it could cause, I made the decision to attend his funeral. In fact, I would be one of the people scattering his ashes. I thought it only fair that everyone closest to him got to release him, so they could silently say their prayers for him.

When the dreadful day came, I wore a black dress which came a little past my knees. It had a rounded neck and showed no cleavage. I even wore panty hose. I put on sensible black high heels, not too high, and a black sunhat with a white rose and veil to cover my face in case of any stray rays of sunshine.

The funeral was to take place during sunset, and the eulogies would last until around dusk. A twilight funeral. I wanted nothing less for my father. It was a long, winding drive up the large hill that led to the cliff. I parked my car at the end of the road and made my way across the neatly trimmed grass towards the face of the cliff, where a wooden easel stood, holding an ornate wreath with a picture of Charlie inside.

I had the ashes cradled in my arms, in a beautiful urn that I hand made for the ceremony. There was a large and old eucalyptus tree near where the ceremony would be. It was the only tree in the clearing at the edge of the cliff for at least a hundred meter radius, though the thick forest encroached the small area completely except for the road.

I was the first one there, besides the pastor, who would be reading from the Bible for the ceremony. I shook his hand, but said nothing. He was eyeing me furtively, probably wondering why a sixty-something year old that had just passed away's daughter was seventeen.

While waiting for the other attendees to arrive, I walked towards the face of the cliff. The pure beauty of it stunned me. The dark blue waves below chopping into the rough, rocky walls of the cliff, while the beautiful orange sun, about ready to set, contrasted marvelously at the horizon.

The thing that hurt the most out of all this was knowing that I wouldn't be able to cry at my own father's funeral. I had never realized how damned this life truly was.

That's when I heard the cars start to pull up the gravel road and parked. I paid them no attention, though I could clearly hear their conversations about me from behind my turned back. To a human's ears it would have been just faint whispering.

Sensing my grief, the people made no attempt to approach me. Then an incredible voice that was all too familiar came from a hushed whisper behind me.

"That's _Bella_? _Bella Swan_? It's impossible, she died! Is this some sick joke?" Jacob whispered to someone behind me, his voice shocked and tinted with pain.

I took a sharp, unneeded intake of breath. Jacob Black, a.k.a. the last thing I need right now. Although I was curious to see how he looked after seventeen years, I resisted the urge to peek. I couldn't have him try and talk to me now and ruin the service. I would look at him during it, when he could make no move to approach me.

I heard footsteps moving towards my general direction, but they ceased when, to my enormous relief, the pastor cleared his throat to signify the beginning of the service.

The rest of them attendees gathered around me near the easel and by the edge of the cliff. I saw Jacob in my peripheral vision, and turned my head fully towards him to examine any differences. He knew better then to interrupt a funeral service.

His eyes widened in shock when he saw my still young face. The only difference me must've been my gradual increase in beauty and curves. He, of course, looked completely different.

I did the mental math to figure out that he was around thirty-three now. His beautiful face was now rugged and strong. His hair was a lot shorter now and no longer in a ponytail. He had some minor lines on his face, but not from smiling or laughing, but of grief. Frown lines.

His beautiful brown eyes seemed depthless, and his now toned body was perfect. He was very tall and looked more evened out and graceful. The most shocking thing was that instead of looking like a thirty year old, he looked to be in his early twenties. If it weren't for his frown lines, I would've sworn him to be a college student.

"Charlie Swan was a devoted father, friend, and police chief. He was a crutch to everyone around him. We now know how strongly dependent we were on that crutch, and we miss him more. Though Charlie deserved nothing less then a peaceful death, in the arms of his only kin, and such a beautiful ceremony. We can now look at his death as the perfect ending for a great man as he enters the only place good enough for. In the lands of our creator he can rest in peace. All we can hope now is that one day, we too can be as good of a person as Charlie Swan, who knew how only to live, to learn, and to love," the pastor said.

"Rest in peace, Charlie. Enjoy Heaven," the pastor concluded.

At the mention of Heaven I broke into sobs. I would never be able to see my father again. I was nowhere near the kind of person my father was, and I knew Heaven was way out of my league.

All the other guests looked like they wanted to comfort me, but none approached or spoke. After a minute of sobbing, I felt firm hands rap around me from behind and pull me into a tight embrace. I turned around and into Jacob's shoulder I wept tearlessly, wishing more then anything that I had died that night at the Masquerade. And for the first time in my life, part of me wished I had never moved to Forks.

I looked into the green forest encroaching the area, seeking comfort. All I saw was Edward's beautiful topaz eyes staring at me. He was in a suit, dressed for a funeral, with white flowers in his hands. He turned and ran away, dropping the flowers, and all I could do was weep harder. Sometimes I wondered how I could've become such a cruel person.

I never wanted to hurt Edward, or Charlie, or Renee, but I did. Was I only here on this earth to hurt those who deserved so much more then me? Was I hear to balance out with all the good in the world?

"Bella," Jacob whispered softly.

I pushed him away abruptly and ran to my car, weeping and on the verge of screaming. I was no good to the people I loved. My existence was worthless. I couldn't hurt anyone else more then I already had, and there was only one way to do that.

I hopped into the driver's seat and put the urn in the passenger's seat. I swerved around other parked cars and sped away. It was time I stopped running and started facing the problem. Maybe, I vainly hoped, this time I wouldn't escape.

I ran into Charlie's house and wrote a simple note to no imparticular person.

_It is because I love you that I hurt you. And I will not hurt you anymore._

That was all I wrote. Those two sentences conveyed my feelings more then anything else ever had.

I made sure the house was clean before removing all traces of my existence. I took all my books, my clothes, my hair products, and anything I had ever used and buried them in the back yard.

I had to do this all quickly, before my common sense started kicking in. I removed my license plate, changing it to a fake one. I jumped into my car and sped into town. I stopped at the first homeless person I found and threw him my keys.

Then I started running towards the trees, only a little bit away. That's when a car screeched to a stop next to me and Jacob ran out, cutting me off.

"You can't leave again. Especially not now," he said, his eyes so pained that my mission seemed so much more important.

That's when something clicked.

"I have to go. You should know that," I whispered into his ear. Then I quickly kissed him on the cheek before whispering into his ear. "And thanks for the message on the sign."

He looked utterly shocked. I used that to my advantage and continued running, much faster now.

As I entered the forest, the sun was just finished setting. I knew where I had to go, and I knew why. Faster and faster I ran towards the meadow. Because now I had a mission, a solution.

And even if the solution was my imminent demise, it was a solution worth making.

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**Let me know if it was as sucky as I thought it was! And I promise, everything will be explained if I do the next book. **


	8. How Do You Feel?

**I AM SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG! I had writer's block and many issues with how it would turn out. But alas, the final chapter! It's so sad that it's finally ending, but hey, there will maybe be a sequel. Well, I totally love you guys for being patient, and it's really long, so without further ado, here is the final chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Twilight or New Moon, Stephenie Meyer does. Duh.**

* * *

Chapter Nine

_How Do You Feel?_

_Ignorance is bliss_. I always thought that saying was so stupid, so naive, until now, that is. For the first time in my life, I think I would have been better off not knowing. Not knowing that Jacob was in on my impending demise, not knowing that the only way to save the ones I love was to die. The worst part was that I wouldn't of had to die if only I had played my cards right. But now it's too late.

As I ran through the brush, vines and twigs snagged on my clothes, causing me to stumble. I looked down and saw that the fabric on the bottom of my dress had gotten ripped and was starting to unravel. It reminded me of a lyric in a song I had once listened to. _The fabrics about to fray_. It was unnerving.

I mentally prepared myself on the way to the meadow. I couldn't just run in, the memories by themselves would be overwhelming, much less the flowers, the final dying rays of light seeping through the overhang… My step faltered. Did I know what I was doing? What I was getting myself into? But this was for Edward. The man who I would feel fire in my veins for, the man who I would leave my life for. With that resolve, I sped up and ran straight into the meadow.

I circled around, taking it all in. At first I felt nothing, just drained, numb. But the safe numbness didn't last long. Suddenly every pain, every memory, and every wrong decision I had ever made came flooding back to me with enough force that I fell to my knees. The tall flowers encumbered me, and I rolled onto my side, pulling my knees to my chest.

Looking for a haven in the flowers was ridiculous, and it only made the sobs come harder. Was this my damnation? Had my choice been made before I had even consciously known there would be an ultimatum in my life? Well, if this was the end, I hoped it would be quick. It was if all of my emotions were in a twister, being strewn all over me in a tangent of love, hate, and rage.

"God, help me!" I screamed, grabbing my hair and sobbing, begging for this all to be over.

"Well, I'm not God, but I'm here to help you," came a sly voice from somewhere above me and to the right.

_---_

_Don't cry to me  
If you loved me  
You would be here with me  
You want me  
Come find me  
Make up your mind_

_---_

I sat straight up. I didn't recognize the voice, but it seemed to calm the storm raging inside of me. I slowly stood up, letting my wobbly legs adjust. I scanned the meadow quickly until I found him, leaning against a tree. He had black hair, around ear length, and he was vampire pale, with red eyes.

"Who…?" I started, but it was too painful to continue.

"My name is Giovanni, and I'm here to help you. You see, we knew you would be coming, we just weren't sure if you knew it yourself," he said, a flawless smile touching his ungodly lips.

"What if I said I don't need help," I managed to get out feebly.

He gave out a bark of a laugh.

"Then I would tell you to take a look at yourself. You're in a tattered dress covered in grass stains, sobbing without tears, and screaming to God to make all your emotions go away. I would say you look like just the person who needs to be helped. And frankly, I'm the only one who can help you right now."

"And what makes you so special?" I spat out, irritated.

Suddenly the storm started inside of me again, and I fell to my knees, clutching my stomach as if it would make all of the hurt go away. I let out an agonized shriek. My body started changing temperature rapidly, something it hadn't done since my human days. I looked into his eyes and mouth out the words 'help me', without really realizing it.

He sauntered towards me, smiling, with his hands tucked into the pockets of his fancy black pants. Grass and flowers rubbed against his feet, though none stained. His movements were graceful and soft, and I was sure he could walk through a forest floor coated with twigs and no one would hear him. When he reached me he put his hand under my chin and tipped my face up so my eyes met his.

"I knew you would say that," he started, and then he tilted his head to my cowering state and said, "because _that _is exactly what makes me so special."

"What are you?" I gasped, clutching my stomach harder and swinging my face out of his grip. I didn't miss the fact that my body temperature seemed to still be rising incredibly.

"My friends call me The Reckoner, but that's just a nickname," he whispered into my ear, laughing slightly. "You wanted to escape, and we just happen to need you, so it all works out perfectly, doesn't it? And you can finally 'save' your boyfriend, or whatever it is you think you're doing."

This is what I had wanted. This is what I had asked for.

"Okay," I whispered.

The pain and the uncontrollable heat stopped suddenly, and I took a big gasp of breath. It took a minute for what I did to sink in, but when it did I found out I didn't regret it. He pulled me to my feet gently and smiled sweetly.

"You did the right thing," he said reassuringly.

"Yeah, whatever," I mumbled.

His hand never left my arm, its grip firm yet gentle. He wasn't trying to be scary, he just was. I had never met anyone else like him before. His very presence chilled me to the core. It was dangerous yet seductive, like the magnetic lure of a black panther's eyes, topaz and alluring, yet once you got too close, you were gone.

A lot like Edward's.

_---_

_Should have let you fall  
lose it all  
So maybe you can remember yourself  
Can't keep believing  
We're only deceiving ourselves  
And I'm sick of the lie  
And you're too late_

_---_

He started walking me towards the other end of the meadow when I heard a deep, guttural growl come from somewhere behind us. My nose, which was still recovering with the rest of my body from the emotional whirlwind, then picked up a strong, disgusting scent. Sort of like wet, dirty dog.

I turned around slowly, my emotions in too much of a haze to be curious. There was a humongous dog staring at us, growling. It started walking to us slowly, its reddish brown fur getting tousled in the wind. I felt a surge of fright shoot up my spine, coming in loud and clear through my haze.

It was a werewolf. I had only heard stories and seen pictures from the years of my time with Audrey. She would always make me read books on them and almost study them. Her intense passion and severity whenever we would discuss them normally would creep me out, but now it seemed as if she had been forewarning me.

Giovanni merely smiled, as if amused. Sort of like this was what he had expected. How out of the loop _was_ I? I could've run when Giovanni moved towards the wolf, but I was too busy reminding myself this is what I had wanted. I started chanting "I want this" under my breath, like a mantra. The wolf sent me a strange look.

With stiflingly fast agility, Giovanni dove at the wolf. The wolf met the challenge, and they both started clawing at the other with surprising agility and ferocity. I backed up until I hit a tree, where I slowly slid to the ground and curled up, my eyes locked on the raging battle intensely.

That's when I heard more noises, coming from somewhere behind me. It sounded like another battle. I strained my neck and peered around the huge tree into the forest. I could make out two lightening fast shapes attacking each other brutally. They were clawing and running and punching and shoving, heading towards the meadow.

I turned my head to see if the wolf and Giovanni had noticed the battle raging towards us, but I was the only one in the meadow. I _tentatively _walked to the center of the meadow to see where they had gone, but by the time I had gotten there, the dueling pair smashed through the last thickets of brush and into the small area.

I gasped, shocked.

"Bella! Get-" Edward started to say, while still fighting the other vampire, "-away!"

I started to run and help Edward, but suddenly the emotion storm started inside of me again, and I fell to the ground, wailing.

"Bella!" Edward called, but soon he too was on the ground, his face scrunched up in agony.

I tried to push my power onto the storm and cease it, but I couldn't control myself enough to use it. I looked up at the other vampire, to see why he wasn't on the ground in agony. When he met my stare he smiled. He was noticeably missing two teeth in the front of his mouth. I gasped, remembering, and his smiled widened.

Soon Giovanni walked back into the meadow, his usual calm and smug expression planted on his face, as if he was used to seeing people wither on the ground in agony. Behind him came several other red-eyed vampires, all dragging along others. I immediately recognized Diem, Zana, Riley, and Micah through the painful twister of emotions.

They all seemed to be unconscious, their eyes closed and their mouths slightly opened. They were thrown rudely to the ground in front of us, and upon hitting the ground all of their eyes fluttered open and they all grasped their stomachs in pain. Well not in just pain, in _everything_. Giovanni had put the storms in them.

_---_

_Don't cry to me  
If you loved me  
You would be here with me  
You want me  
Come find me  
Make up your mind_

_---_

Suddenly my storm was relinquished, and I slowly got up, gasping. When I was reassured I could move, I slowly crawled over to Edward, who was still withering. The 'other' vampires had their eyes planted on me as I moved to Edward's side, gathering him in my arms, tearlessly weeping, which was partly an after affect of the storm, and partly because I realized this was all my fault.

As I held him tighter his withering didn't stop. Neither did he unclench his teeth, which looked to be his way of preventing from moaning or tearlessly sobbing. This was enough; they had to stop now.

"Stop it!" I screeched between sobs, glaring at them. They only laughed. My anger flared, and with as much power as my tattered emotions could muster, I sent a wave of my power at them.

They all stumbled back, faces wiped blank for a few seconds, but then regained composure. Giovanni had looked surprisingly vulnerable for a few seconds, then his expression became incensed, then went back to the usual smug as he let his power overcome mine and once again wipe the only loved ones I had in a torrent of pain.

"Please just end this! You have me, that isn't enough?" I gasped, still sobbing.

Edward moaned in protest, the only sound he could make.

"Sorry, Isabella, it's take no prisoners today," Giovanni said kindly. Then with a casual wave of his hand Zana's eyes widened and she let out a pained shriek before becoming limp, dead.

"No!" I shouted, sobbing harder, running to Zana's limp corpse.

Diem, Micah, and Edward's eyes widened, and their mouths opened. Diem started sobbing so hard she could no longer get air, not that she needed it. I wrapped my arms around Zana and started shaking her, trying to bring her back. She _couldn't_ be gone. I never got to say sorry for leaving her, and everyone else. I never got to tell her how much I relied on her, how good of a friend she was…

"You killed her," I whispered feebly.

"No one lasts forever, Bella. You especially should know that," he whispered, suddenly kneeling on the ground, centimeters away.

I turned and looked directly at him, our noses almost touching.

"Bastard!" I screeched, then with all my strength I grasped his arm roughly and surged all of my power, every last ounce of strength I had, into his arm.

His eyes widened, his face paled, his mouth dropped open slightly, and Diem, Micah, and Edward all stopped trembling. I released my grasp and fell to the ground, my back hitting the hard packed soil at the same time as Giovanni's.

With intense ferocity, and roars that could be heard for miles, Micah, Diem, Riley, and Edward all lunged at the remaining vampires. Edward landed on the one missing two teeth, and I immediately got a flash back of before Audrey died, when a certain vampire attacked me in an alley…

"_You're the one who got away," he whispered. "But not this time. This time my very own teeth will destroy you. They are strong, and fierce, and sharp-"_

_I cut off his rant._

"_It's really weird to gloat about teeth you know," I said. Then I used my power, put my hand in his mouth and pulled out his two incisors. "Especially when they aren't that strong."_

_I threw him off of me and into the building on the opposite side._

_---_

_Couldn't take the blame  
Sick with shame  
Must be exhausting to lose your own game  
Selfishly hated  
No wonder you're jaded  
You can't play the victim this time  
And you're too late_

_---_

I exhaled sharply, too drained to even gasp. But what did he have to do with Giovanni? Unless Giovanni worked with… I actually gasped this time, everything clicking into place. A shriek from Diem sent another flashback wavering through my brain…

"_Another one! Can't anyone think in this city without being disturbed!" I huffed._

"_Oh, I'm not hear to fight you," she laughed. "I was here to track him. He's another one of Damien's army of pathetic losers bent on destroying vampires."_

_My eyes widened in shock at her words. He had an army!_

"No, no, no," I whispered, realizing the magnitude of the situation.

Giovanni had crawled on his stomach, wheezing slightly, until he was turned around, lying on the ground, facing me. His eyes met mine and he smiled slightly.

"Yes, yes, yes," he whispered back with an even bigger smile.

Diem fell to the ground in front of me, limp and dead. I reached out and grabbed her hand lightly, in too much shock to sob. If what I thought was happening was really happening, this would only be the second death of many.

I heard Micah release a horrible snarl, full of anguish, pain, despair, rage, and tragedy. It would have been heart wrenching, but my heart seemed already shattered. In my mind I kept repeating the words "This can't be happening", hoping that my chant would make a difference. I knew it wouldn't, though.

Everything was already set in motion, and it wouldn't stop until the wheel was done spinning. No one could stop it, and the only ones who could never would. It was mind blowing.

My eyes started sagging and I could feel myself becoming full of fatigue. The only possible solution would be that Giovanni was regaining his strength, but I didn't fight it. It just needed to end. Suddenly, though, the ground was removed from beneath me. Someone was lifting me up, and it was not Edward.

I looked up into the face of my captor. He had a smooth, beautiful face of course, but it wasn't devious or evil, like you'd expect. He looked truly good. His eyes were set somewhere above and away from me, completely averted from my face.

When I followed his gaze and saw that he was staring at nothing, he just didn't want to look at me to feel guilty, I found the strength to speak.

"That's weak," I mumbled.

He finally stared at me, his eyes full of pain.

"You don't know-" he started to object, but I cut him off.

"Spare me the details, okay? Just make me tired again. I don't want to feel anymore," I said, knowing that even if I did try, the outcome would be bleak.

_---_

_So don't cry to me  
If you loved me  
You would be here with me  
You want me  
Come find me  
Make up your mind_

_---_

When I looked around him, I saw Edward, Micah and Riley fighting the fiercely. Edward was trying to get to me, brutally pummeling anyone who got in his way, but I realized this guy was taking me somewhere.

"Stop! Please," I started begging. I realized I hadn't said goodbye to Edward, and it was tormenting. It was weird, getting so worked up over something so trivial, but something, call it intuition, told me I wouldn't be seeing Edward again for a while, and it was devastating. "No! Stop! Drop me, please! No no no! Please!"

I started sobbing and pounding on him, but his eyes were averted from my face. I grabbed his face and forced him to face me. "Please" I mouthed, still sobbing, but he just turned his head.

"No!" I screamed, my yell filled with anguish. "Please! No! Help me!"

Edward's face was so full of pain I just needed to run to him. He was still fighting vampire after vampire, conquering them all. He was so close, until I saw Giovanni come up behind Edward and grab his arm. Suddenly Edward's face crumpled in pain, and he staggered. He kept walking toward me though, despite what Giovanni was doing to him.

Giovanni sent an extra surge through him and he collapsed to the ground, his eyes never leaving mine. Then I saw Micah. He was barreling towards Giovanni, about to strike. He could stop him!

I was so full of joy at that very moment I thought I would burst. Then I saw the hand shoot out, grab Micah's face, and _tear_. Micah's let out an anguished howl and fell to the ground, and in no time I saw three vampires jump on him and start ripping him up.

"No! No please no!" I said, sobbing harder at the scene laid out before me.

Edward on the ground, withering in pain, my three best friends dead, Giovanni, standing unharmed, his smug expression still planted as he watched the battle before him, but the worse, the very worse, was Riley, standing there with a blank expression, holding a portion of Micah's skin in his hand.

He had betrayed us. He had betrayed the people who took him in. He was working with them.

All I could do was stare, open mouth, as Giovanni walked over to Riley and pat him on the shoulder. I clearly heard the words "Maybe we'll keep him for a little longer" come from Giovanni's mouth. They were directed at Edward, but by the menacing tone of his voice I can tell that meant nothing for Edward.

"Rhiner, stop! Come back here for a second," Giovanni's voice rang out loud and clear. "He wants to see her."

I knew immediately it wasn't Edward who I was going to see. As Rhiner carried me back to Giovanni, I felt too dead to even care who wanted to see me. Zana, Micah, and Diem were dead. Edward was lying in a semi-conscious state on the ground, his future looking grim. Riley had betrayed us. It couldn't get much worse.

Oh, how wrong was I.

"Wow, Bella, you haven't changed a bit," rang the all too familiar voice.

_---_

_You never called me when we weren't done  
You only want it 'cause it's over - It's over_

_How could I have burned paradise?  
How could I?  
You were never mine_

_---_

It sent shockwaves through my body. Everything made sense now. Jacob's relationship in the ordeal was crystal clear. Somehow, through all I had seen and felt, I managed to speak.

"Wow. Two betrayals in one night. That must be a record, wouldn't you say, Gavin?" I asked, my voice not breaking once.

Gavin smiled his all too familiar smile, the same one he used to give me when we were dating before Audrey died, which was followed with a sigh.

"Giovanni called me and told me you had it all figured out. I guess he was wrong," Gavin sent Giovanni a dark look. "I thought petty Jacob's little message would've messed it all up, but I got lucky."

"I knew you were Native American, I just never thought you were Quileute. It makes sense now. Though, answer one question. Why did you decide to work with Damien?" I asked, taking a deep, shaking breath.

"After Audrey died, Wes sort of went crazy. He's like my brother, you know. Well we met Damien when we were going through these alleys, looking for you. Wes wanted to kill you; I just wanted to talk to you. Well, there Damien was, getting ready to raid the base you were living in, so we decided to help, so maybe we could find you. But Damien told us all about your past that you conveniently forgot to tell us. How you were responsible for the deaths of Audrey, Esme, and what would be all three of them. He even told me how you disfigured his face, and how you were only with me for convenience. Well, Bella, he then told me of a way we can _fix_ you. Make you more like us, and see things the right way. So I agreed to help. And it worked out pretty well, if I say so myself," Gavin said lazily.

I was breathing rapidly now, feeling as if I was going to burst, but not in the good way.

"You…you still blame me for Audrey? And for Esme? How could you Gavin? I had nothing… It was Damien!" I stuttered, breathing too hard to talk.

"No excuses anymore, Bella. Soon you won't need them. Soon you'll be just like us," Gavin said, smiling.

He took me from Rhiner's arms and nodded to Giovanni.

"See you there, boss," he said before turning around and walking away.

I had got a good glimpse of everyone else's face before he started walking away. There eyes shown red and evil, full of years of cruelty. Their faces were hard. They were faces that had witnessed death and had not been affected. They were cold faces. They were evil faces.

And they were going to make me just like them.

"Help!" I screamed loudly, thrashing as I realized the extent of their plans. "Help me!"

I stopped as soon as Gavin broke into a run, for I realized no one could help me now. The battle was lost, and it was all because of me. I was responsible for everything.

And there was no one to save me now.

_---_

_So don't cry to me  
If you loved me  
You would be here with me  
Don't lie to me  
Just get your things  
I've made up your mind_

_---_

* * *

**Cliffies forever! WOOT! But I don't know if I should make a sequel or not, I like how the ending sort of leaves it to your imagination. What do you guys think? Anyways, I hope you liked it! I thank you all for reading and I hope it was as enjoyable for you to read as it was for me to write.**

**XOXO,**

_IheartTwilight_


	9. An Epilogue: Sound of Rain

**Okay, so I decided to add the epilogue for three reasons:**

_1. My fans didn't deserve such a cliffhanger ending_

_2. I need to see how you guys react to it being in Edward's point of view, The sequel, which definitley will be made, will be predominantly in his point of view._

_3. I needed to clear some things up before I can start up the real story._

**Oh, and also, you can expect me to be adding 2 to 4 new stories very soon, and I will also be continuing Edward Cullen Must Die, because that story is like only 3 chapters in and has like 47 reviews already. I will not slack on my updating though, because the variety will definitley make it A LOT more fun to write. So yeah, keep your eyes open!**

**ONTO THE EPILOGUE, THE REAL LAST CHAPTER OF THE STORY!**

**DISCLAIMER: Argh. I don't own Twilight or New Moon, incase you missed my other one hundred something disclaimers.**

* * *

Epilogue:

_Sound of Rain_

My mind screamed out, in betrayal, pain, anguish, devastation. As I watched the only person I had ever truly given my heart to get carried away screaming, the silence enveloped me, and my emotions took rein, even though the storm had stopped. As soon as I realized this I bounded up and immediately took off running in the direction of Bella's scent. Hands of iron strength grasped me and threw me back onto the ground.

I looked around myself as I slowly crouched into a defensive position. Giovanni had somehow put my muscles into a fake sort of slumber, so they were not nimble, yet they were still active. Fighting would be useless. The silence was deafening as I looked into the faces of those who had planned on ruining the life of the girl I loved. I could not hear their thoughts, whether it is by some strange power they wielded against my ability, or if it was just the mere fact that Bella truly had taken a part of me with her, it didn't matter. I need them to talk; I needed to find their weaknesses.

"Trying to find the rusty spot on our armor, Edward? Our _weakest link_?" sneered the one called Giovanni.

"I'll find her, you know it just as well as I do," I promised.

"It's not a question about finding her or not, 'tis a question about founding her _in time_, my friend," he easily countered.

Slowly some of the vampires started filtering in the general direction Bella had been taken, all following the one, Gavin, who Bella had used to date.

"You," I said, malice dripping from every word. "You think what you are doing is right? You think are helping her?"

He didn't respond, he only smiled. He held no remorse for playing such a crucial part in Bella's kidnapping because he thought what he was doing was right. He was far too gone to see the error of his ways anymore. Maybe all these people were. Maybe we were fighting a losing battle. Even if that were true, Bella would not be harmed. Bella could be the sole survivor.

"Should I kill him now? Or what shall I do with him?" asked the toothless vampire with a very noticeable lisp.

"No, bring him with us. He might provide some entertainment for Sutton. Maybe she'll leave me alone for a little while," Giovanni's tone changed and his eyes narrowed slightly upon the mention of the name, as if he was talking about some annoying child.

I was cuffed from behind with a pair of handcuffs made with some undistinguishable alloy that was too strong for me to break with my muscles in their snooze. I hated being chained like I was some sort of animal. My rage was now so high I could hardly think of anything else but plans of what I would do to these vampires as soon as the cuffs came off. So wrapped up in my evil thoughts that I was taken aback when I saw Giovanni take a large sniff of the air and make a face.

I also sniffed, and the first burst of hope I had all night rose up in my chest. I could clearly smell my family, only a mile or so away. They were running fast; Alice must've had a vision. I let a smile spread over my face.

"Riley, let us go. You," Giovanni directed other various vampires in the meadow "stay and fight. Kill them all, take no prisoners. He isn't worth the trouble."

He finished his order with a narrowed eye glare at me before he and Riley both took off at vampire speed into the forest.

"Cowards," I muttered. The toothless vampire punched me in the face.

"You just wait until they get here, toothy. I'll make you regret that," I said in a deadly voice, my rage bubbling over. My strength was slowly returning as Giovanni moved farther and farther away.

The toothless vampire was just about to respond when my family burst through the brush. Rosalie literally flew at the vampire holding the chains that kept my legs bound together. In two swipes her long nails had mauled his face and arms. He fell to the ground howling as Rosalie quickly destroyed the chain.

"Just leave the cuffs," I ordered, nodding at her, seeing as how she was having trouble. Our family needed our assistance against this amount of vampires.

Emmett was taking on three while Jasper inflicted as many as he could with an overpowering sense of drowsiness. He then would proceed to tear them up after they had gone out cold. Rosalie's long nails combined with her graceful agility made her like a lethal tiger or panther, beautifully and seductively deadly. Alice could see any move her opponent would make, therefore she was always a step ahead.

Carlisle's blind rage, though, was perhaps the most powerful spectacle in the meadow. Realizing that these fiends were on the same side as those who had betrayed Esme, Carlisle was tearing and punching and kicking anything he crossed. He was like a tornado, destroying anything that came too close.

I immediately scoped out the toothless vampire, who seemed to be running away. I ran, full speed, directly at him. I didn't stop until I barreled into him and heard the satisfying crash of vampire meets earth. I swung out my leg and kicked him in the side of the face. His neck bent into an odd angle that surely no human could've survived.

"Is that the best you've-" he started to sneer, but I silenced him by bending down, and with my handcuff hands, ripping a long shred of flesh off his face. I finished him off quickly before speeding off to go back and help the others. When I got back, though, everyone was done.

My family was virtually unscathed. My relief was short lived, though.

"Where were you!" I boomed, furious.

"Calm down. First you need to answer our questions. Where is Bella?" Carlisle asked in his calm, emotion-less voice. I forgot that's how he spoke now. Ever since Esme died.

"They…they took her. Everyone else is dead," I managed to get out before I violently kicked a fallen log, which went flying to the woods.

Everyone's faces seemed to pale, despite the impossibility of it, but they said no more on the subject. Jasper went behind me to remove the cuffs. Alice, who looked perhaps the most hurt, walked over to me and reassuringly put a hand on my shoulder.

"We'll find her, don't worry," she said. I only shook off her hand.

"They went that way, let's go," I said once Jasper had removed the cuffs. I turned and prepared to run, but Carlisle stopped me.

"Edward, it is too big for just us to fight now. It's time we got allies," he said in his monotone voice.

"_Carlisle_," I spat rudely, "this isn't a war. This isn't our mission to get revenge for Esme. This is us going for Bella, _who still has a chance_."

I regretted my words as soon as they left my mouth, but I made no attempt to take them back. What I said, I meant, however harsh it sounded. There was nothing we could do to save Esme.

"Edward!" Rosalie hissed, but Carlisle put up his hand and silenced her.

"Alright, _son_, we all miss Bella, but it's time you grew up and started thinking rationally," Carlisle said angrily, finally showing some emotion. "We'll split up. Three of us will go to Denali, and the rest of us will go to where you happen to think Bella is, but we are not just going to run through the forest like savages."

What he said made sense, and I immediately regretted my snap. I had to clear my head, to think rationally. If not for my own sake, definitely for Bella's.

"Alright," I said, sighing. "Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper can go up to Denali. Alice, you, and I can go look for Bella."

"No," said Rosalie.

I turned on her, my anger flaring unreasonably once again.

"There is no time-" I started to say angrily, but Carlisle put up a hand and silenced me.

"Rosalie?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I don't want to go to Denali. I will go with you guys," she said firmly, embarrassment and determination lighting up her eyes.

Emmett, Jasper, and I all started protesting, but Alice, who was staring at Rosalie strangely, as if Alice had seen Rosalie's intentions that had clearly evaded the rest of us, with possible the exception of Carlisle, spoke up.

"She can have my place. I'll go up to Denali with Jasper and Emmett," she said, still staring oddly at Rosalie.

"Okay," Rosalie said, nodding her thanks towards Alice.

"But Rose-" Emmett started, only to be cut off by Carlisle.

"She knows what she wants," he said firmly.

"Okay," Emmett whispered, pulling Rosalie into a hug. He gave her a kiss on the lips.

"Good luck," we all said to each other, before Jasper, Emmett, and Alice all took off for Denali.

As we prepared to leave, I took one last look at the meadow. I remembered my time with Bella and my time here now; knowing that burning it would no longer make a difference. I was sure that the memory of today had tainted the meadow for us both.

"Rest in peace," I whispered silently, before putting my lighter against a tall weed. The fire spread around the meadow and consumed the dead and torn vampire corpses inside of it.

Carlisle put his hand reassuringly on my shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. Rosalie grabbed my free hand and held on tightly, a weird gesture, as if watching the meadow was just as painful for her. We slowly turned around and prepared to run. I let Rosalie and Carlisle go ahead of me.

It started to rain slightly, but that would make no difference against the blazing fire. The rain soothed me, the sound of it hitting the already damp earth. It cleared my head and helped me get a better perspective of my situation. I noticed that the meadow seemed to be the perfect spot to burn, as if it were made for that. That small river encircling it would make sure no fire spread, and the only slight branches above would let the smoke pass through in an inconspicuous way.

"I will find you Bella. We will be happy once again," I whispered to the flaming meadow.

I turned my back on the fire and ran towards where I knew Rosalie and Carlisle would be waiting, feeling slightly better. I felt like a teenager who had always followed the rules who had just done something that went totally against what he believed in. As if setting the meadow aflame was my little rebellion. Maybe a spark of the meadow fire lit something up inside of me; maybe it awakened something long gone.

All I knew now was that I would harbor that spark and let it spread. I would let it wreak beautiful havoc, and I would let it burn through me. Because something told me, call it intuition, that I would need spark to save Bella. That this little fire inside of me could be my motivation.

Whatever it was, whatever it did, I would let it run its course. Because anything that helped me get to Bella was my friend, and anything that got in my way, a foe. And I _would_ get to Bella. Nothing could stop me, and nothing better dare. Because I would not give up, not until she was safely in my arms. And I didn't care what I had to do to get her there.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed it! And it was short because it only was an epilogue! AND PLEASE TELL ME HOW YOU LIKE ME DOING IT FROM EDWARD'S POINT OF VIEW! lol. And add me to author alert so you know when the sequel and stuff comes out. Cause you guys write some pretty great reviews, and it makes me happy to know you're happy.**

XOXO,

_Ihearttwilight_


	10. Sequel: The Porcelain Sky

_Hey_ guys!

Just wanted to let you all know that I went back through and deleted all of my annoying Author's Notes throughout the story!

Also, I've cut off The Shattered Obsession, and now am having the _TRUE_ sequel, **The Porcelain Sky**, pick up where The Blue Haven left off.

More drama. More vamps. More love. More fights. More clans. More twists.

And most importantly, more fun.

Check my profile to find the story,

XOXO,

_IheartTwilight!_


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